B&W Awarded Second Installment of Its DOE Funding for mPower SMR Development

The Department of Energy has released the remaining 2013 funding for development of the Babcock and Wilcox mPower small modular reactor.

The DOE has earmarked as much as $452 million to help commercialize SMRs, awarding the 180 megawatt mPower project the first round of matching funds late last year. In a release Tuesday, B&W said the latest $20.5 million follows an initial grant of $79 million in April. The agency has also provided about $2 million for national laboratory research related to the project and in future years intends to grant additional funding to the venture, which also includes Bechtel and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The DOE estimated the total award will be between $150 million and $226 million over five years, although that is dependent upon congressional appropriations.

“We remain on an aggressive schedule toward the anticipated commercial operation of the Clinch River mPower Plant near Oak Ridge, Tenn., by 2022 and appreciate the DOE’s support as we move closer to delivering this vital technology to the global energy market,” B&W mPower President Christofer M. Mowry said in the release.

Meanwhile, other SMR developers are competing for the remaining DOE funding. They include Westinghouse, Holtec International, NuScale Power, General Atomics, National Project Management Corp. and Hybrid Power Technologies.